1st place winners for District Attorney’s “Bye Bye Bullying” video contest announced

02:24 PM December 06, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO – District Attorney George Gascón announced the winners of the “Bye Bye Bullying” video contest at a press conference held at Socialcam, a socially connected platform accessible from mobile devices and the web, and one of the most popular apps for capturing and sharing video.

The bullying awareness video contest for middle school and high schools in San Francisco was produced by the District Attorney’s Women’s Committee.

The goal was to increase public awareness about bullying amongst students, encourage youth to discuss bullying more openly and develop effective responses to bullying.

ADVERTISEMENT

“This video contest resonated with young people in our city as they pulled together their friends to speak out about bullying. We were impressed with the creativity and the heart and soul put into creating these videos,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “Every student who entered the video contest is a winner and part of the solution. Their commitment to end bullying will inspire their peers to take action.

A total of 58 videos were received from students all over city and from schools including Lincoln High School, Visitacion Valley Middle School, Rooftop Elementary School, Francisco Middle School, Everett Middle School, Washington High School, Mission High School, St. Ignacius High School and Lick Wilmerding High School. Videos were judged on the quality of presentation, creativity, educational approach and the ultimate message conveyed.

The winning videos are as follows:

Category: The Effects of Bullying

Title: Stop the Cycle

Matt Ignao, Shant Kilijian, Will Kim, Nate Reutiman from St. Ignasius High

School

http://goo.gl/YjMBP

Category: What is Bullying?

Title: Stand up, Speak Up

Lurleen Frazier, from Academy of Art and Sciences

http://goo.gl/sijF4

Category: Effective Ways to Respond to Bullying

Title: Bye Bye Bully

An Xie from Lincoln High School

http://goo.gl/q81Sx

The videos were evaluated by a panel of Judges including: Renel Brooks-Moon, radio personality and public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants; Cheryl Jennings, news anchor for ABC 7 News; Dr. Chris Stewart, San Francisco General Hospital; Kristina Omohundro, Zendesk; San Francisco Youth Commissioners Mia Tu Mutch and Angel Carrion; Irene Van der Zande, Kidpower; and School Board member Emily Murase.

First place winners received an iPad courtesy of Zendesk and a signed baseball by Barry Zito courtesy of the San Francisco Giants. Second place winners received two tickets to a 2013 Giants game, courtesy of the San Francisco Giants. Third place winners received a choice of a sailing lesson, Pier 39 fun passes or art lessons. First, second, third place winners in each category can be seen at http://goo.gl/nJ7b4.

Because the District Attorney believes every student who entered the video contest is a winner, Ben and Jerry’s has generously donated to host a celebration for all participating students on December 15 at 1pm at their Haight/Ashbury store.

“We are proud to support efforts to improve middle and high school students’ ability to develop positive relationships and open communication.

We have always had a saying, ‘If it’s not fun, why do it.’ That applies to this topic as well.” – John Slater and Roger Kaufman, owners of Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops in San Francisco and Marin.

The contest was presented by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and sponsored by: the San Francisco Giants, United States Department of Justice, Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco, Kidpower, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Common Sense Media, Filipina Womens’ Network, San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, James Hall Photography,Bay Area Video Coalition and Zendesk.

“Bye Bye Bullying” is part of the District Attorney’s Truancy Initiative to keep kids in school. For more information, www.sfdistrictattorney.com